I'm an elf wizard with good stats, lots of spells, resistances and intrinsics and level 15. I'm new to nethack but have been spoiling quite a bit. Does having teleport control interfere with the teleport for the quest or am I not high enough level? I got the telepathic message but the only teleporter I can find triggered teleport control.

To enter the quest level, you need to be experience level 14 or higher. Teleport control does not interfere with entering the quest level. Presumably you have not found the actual portal, just a teleport trap that happens to be on the same level.